We're getting a new addition!

He's not the baby we have been hoping and praying for, but we have finally decided to get the boys a dog. The boys have wanted a pet for a really long time, but Luke and I have not been super excited about breaking into the world of pet ownership. We finally decided about a month ago that it would be really fun to surprise them with a puppy for Christmas. But how do you surprise a child with a puppy on Christmas morning? We have hatched a plan...

My parents live nearby and my dad has trained and bred hunting dogs for years. He is also retired so he is home most days and my mom is semi-retired so she only works two days a week. Don't they sound like great puppy-sitters? We thought so, and thankfully they agreed. We have arranged to go pick up the puppy next weekend while they boys are spending the day with Luke's mom. After we get the little guy, we will take him to my parents house where he will stay until Christmas morning. On Christmas morning we are going to coordinate a time for my parents to surprise the boys and bring their Christmas present over. I can't wait to see their reaction!

The best part of the deal for us is that my parents get to start the potty-training process for us. You know they love their grandsons when they are willing to put up with four weeks of potty-training a puppy! I'm sure we'll still have some work to do when he gets to our house, but my parents will at least get him started on the training process. I'm so thankful they live nearby and are willing to do this. I'm very excited for the boys...it's hard to keep it a secret from them.

Here's a picture of the little guy we are going to get. He is a miniature beagle and will be nine weeks old when we get him. We still haven't thought of a name for him. He has such a serious face we feel like he needs a very serious name. We've talked about Cooper, George, Murphy, or Hudson, but we just can't quite decide. If you have any other great dog names for us, please let us know. Just don't tell the boys!
As for our other (and more important!) adoption, I haven't updated in a while because we have some research we are in the midst of right now. As I mentioned a few posts ago, Luke found out that the biggest need for minority adoptions is in the South so we are gathering information from an agency in North Carolina. Once we find out how all that is going to work out, I will post about it. It looks very promising, but we're just not sure yet about some of the details.